"Every planet has its own weird customs. About a year before we met, I spent six weeks on a moon where the principal form of recreation was juggling geese. My hand to God. Baby geese - goslings! They were juggled."

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Acts of kindness

Nothing much to report on the first half of the day, but eventually we geared up to get to the hospital for our daily visit with Nani. We stayed around just talking and visiting for a while until my uncle and his wife left. Mom and I should have noticed a few odd things Nani was doing and saying, but we chalked it up to the condition she was in.

I went downstairs to get tea and came back...when things really began to go haywire. She slipped into a short catnap, and when she woke up, was totally disoriented. She didn't understand where she was in the hospital, what happened, thought everyone was trying to kill her. She didn't even trust mom or me, and wanted my uncle back. Keep in mind that this is completely abnormal behavior for her, so it was a shock to mom and myself. The nurses moved her bed to a room closer to their station against her will, and I held her hand as she slowly got out of the episode. The strange thing is she knew the whole time what was going on and what was so wrong about it, but she couldn't stop herself.

My uncle & his wife came to relieve us and mom was naturally really upset, so once things were settled we had to go.

At home my parents sent me out on a late night errand to the 7-11 around the corner for diet coke (I HATE pop, and I encourage them to quit it but not tonight). The clerk is a sweet man who asked how I was. I automatically responded "Great!" with a big smile and instantly added "Well, I've had better days I guess." Asked if I wanted coffee... oh yes please. Grabbed a case of coke and a cup of coffee and, at the counter, the clerk said the coffee was on him tonight.

What was extra kind about this is I rarely ever need to go in this store. That little gesture was so touching to me and I really needed something like that.

So... just a reminder out there, you can really help someone out with random acts of kindness. Even something like free coffee. Ok, ESPECIALLY something like free coffee.